Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Current status of red palm weevil infestation in date palm plantations in Israel

  • Entomology
  • Published:
Phytoparasitica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The red palm weevilRhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (RPW) is the most serious pest of date palms in the Middle East. Weevil infestation was first detected in Israel in the summer of 1999 in date plantations in the Jordan Valley, on the west bank of the Jordan River and in the northern area of the Dead Sea. For 2 years following the discovery of the pest, prophylactic insecticide chemical treatments as well as adult weevil trapping were carried out over 450 ha of date palm plantations. Traps loaded with a commercial aggregation pheromone, ferrugineol, supplemented with ethyl acetate and a fermenting mixture of dates and sugarcane molasses, were posted in high trap density (approx. ten traps per ha) in order to monitor weevil infestation and reduce the RPW population by mass trapping. A significant decrease in number of trapped beetles and infested trees was observed in 2001 and continued in the following years. No infested trees have been found since 2002, indicating a decrease in RPW population. The sex ratio of trapped adults during 3 years of study was significantly female-biased (∼2.5:1). Therefore, mass trapping might have played a significant role in the suppression of RPW populations in date plantations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alpizar, D., Fallas, M., Oehlschlager, A.C., Gonzalez, L.M., Chinchilla, C.M. and Bulgarelli, J. (2002) Pheromone mass trapping of the West Indian sugarcane weevil and the American palm weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in palmito palm.Fla. Entomol. 85:426–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Booth, R.G., Cox, M.L. and Madge, R.B. (1990) IIE Guides to Insects of Importance to Man. 3. New Guinea Records of Economically Important Beetles (Coleoptera). Coleoptera. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  3. El Ezaby, F.A., Khalifa, O. and El Assal, A. (1998) Integrated pest management for the control of red palm weevilRhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. in the United Arab Emirates, Eastern Region, Al Ain.in: Rahman-Al Afifi, M.A. and Al-Sherif Al-Badawy, A. [Eds.]Proc. First International Conference on Data Palms (Al-Ain, UAE), pp. 269–281.

  4. Faleiro, J.R., Kumar, P.A. and Rangnekar, P.A. (2002) Spatial distribution of red palm weevilRhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in coconut plantation.Crop Prot. 21:171–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Faleiro, J.R., Rangnekar, P.A. and Satarkar, V.R. (2003) Age and fecundity of female red palm weevilsRhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Rhynchophoridae) captured by pheromone traps in coconut plantations of India.Crop Prot. 22:999–1002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Giblin-Davis, R.M. (2001) Borers of palms.in: Howard, F.W., Moore, D., Giblin-Davis, R.M. and Abad, R.G. [Eds.] Insects on Palms. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK. pp. 267–305.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Giblin-Davis, R.M., Oehlschlager, A.C., Perez, A., Gries, G., Gries, R., Weissling, T.J.et al. (1996) Chemical and behavioral ecology of palm weevils (Curculionidae: Rhynchophorinae).Fla. Entomol. 79:153–167.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hallett, R.H., Gries, G., Gries, R., Borden, J.H., Czyzewska, E., Oehlschlager, A.C.et al. (1993) Aggregation pheromones of two Asian palm weevilsRhynchophorus ferrugineus andR. vulneratus.Naturwissenschaften 80:328–331.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hallett, R.H., Oehlschlager, A.C. and Borden, J.H. (1999) Pheromone trapping protocols for the Asian palm weevil,Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).Int. J. Pest Manag. 45:231–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Hallett, R.H., Oehlschlager, A.C., Gries, G., Angerilli, N.P.D., Al Sharequi, R.K., Gassouma, M.S.et al. (1993) Field Testing of Aggregation Pheromones of Two Asian Palm Weevils.Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia International Palm Oil Congress (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), p. A660.

  11. Landolt, P.J. (1997) Sex attractant and aggregation pheromones of male phytophagous insects.Am. Entomol. 16:1015–1037.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Muralidhadaran, C.M., Vaghasia, U.R. and Sodagar, N.N. (1999) Population, food preference and trapping using aggregation pheromone (ferrugineol) on red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus).Indian J. Agric. Sci. 69:602–604.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Murphy, S.T. and Briscoe, B.R. (1999) The red palm weevil as an alien invasive: biology and prospects for biological control as a component of IPM.Biocontrol News Inf. 20:35–45.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Nakash, J., Osem, Y. and Kehat, M. (2000) A suggestion to use dogs for detecting red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) infestation in date palms in Israel.Phytoparasitica 28:153–155.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Oehlschlager, A.C. (1998) Trapping of the Date Palm Weevil.Proc. FAO Conference Workshop on Date Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) and Its Control (Cairo, Egypt).

  16. Oehlschlager, A.C., Chinchilla, C.M., Castilo, G. and Gonzalez, L. (2002) Control of red ring disease by mass trapping ofRhynchophorus palmarum (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).Fla. Entomol. 85:507–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Oehlschlager, A.C., Chinchilla, C.M., Jiron, L.F., Morgan, B. and Mexzon, R.G. (1993) Development of an effective pheromone based trapping system for the American palm weevil,Rhynchophorus palmarum, in oil palm plantations.J. Econ. Entomol. 86:1381–1392.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Oehlschlager, A.C., McDonald, R.S., Chinchilla, C.M. and Patschke, S.N. (1995) Influence of a pheromone-based mass trapping system on the distribution ofRhynchophorus palmarum (L.) and the incidence of red ring disease in oil palm.Environ. Entomol. 24:1004–1012.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Perez, A.L., Hallett, R.H., Gries, R., Gries, G., Oehlschlager, A.C. and Borden, J.H. (1996) Pheromone chirality of Asian palm weevils,Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Oliv.) andR. vulneratus (Panz.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).J. Chem. Ecol. 22:357–368.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Rahalkar, G.W., Harwalkar, M.R., Rananavare, H.O., Tamhankar, A.J. and Shanthram, K. (1985)Rhynchophorus ferrugineus. in: Pritam Singh and Moore, R.F. [Eds.] Handbook of Insect Rearing. Vol. 1. Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. pp. 279–286.

  21. Rochat, D., Morin, J.-P., Kakul, T., Beaudoin-Ollivier, L., Prior, R., Renou, M.et al. (2002) Activity of male pheromone of Melanesian rhinoceros beetleScapanes australis.J. Chem. Ecol. 28:479–500.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Rochat, D., Nagnan-Le Meillour, P., Esteban-Duran, J.R., Malosse, C., Perthuis, B., Morin, J.-P.et al. (2000) Identification of pheromone synergists in American palm weevil,Rhynchophorus palmarum, and attraction of relatedDynamis borassi.J. Chem. Ecol. 26:155–187.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Soroker, V., Nakache, Y., Landau, U., Mizrach, A., Hetzroni, A. and Gerling, D. (2004) Utilization of sounding methodology to detect infestation byRhynchophorus ferrugineus on palm offshoots.Phytoparasitica 32:6–8.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Suckling, D.M. and Karg, G. (2000) Pheromones and other semiochemicals.in: Rechcigl, J.E. and Rechcigl, N.A. [Eds.] Biological and Biotechnological Control of Insect Pests. Lewis Publishers / CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA. pp. 63–101.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Vidyasagar, P.S.P.V., Al Saihati, A.A., Al Mohanna, O.E., Subbei, A.I. and Al Abdul Mohsin, A.M. (2000) Management of red palm weevil.J. Plantat. Crops 28:35–43.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Vidyasagar, P.S.P.V., Hagi, M., Abozuhairah, R.A., Al Mohanna, O.E. and Al Saihati, AA. (2000) Impact of mass pheromone trapping on red palm weevil: adult population and infestation level in date palm gardens of Saudi Arabia.Planter, Kuala Lumpur 76:347–355.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Voight, E. and Toth, M. (2002) Perimeter trapping: A new means of mass trapping with sex attractant ofAnomala scarabs.Acta Zool. Acad. Sci. Hung. 48:297–303.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Yasuda, K. (1995) Mass trapping of the sweet-potato weevilCylas formicarius (Fabricius) (Coleoptera, Brentidae) with synthetic sex pheromone.Appl. Entomol. Zool. 30:31–36.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Zada, A., Soroker, V., Harel, M., Nakache, J. and Dunkelblum, E. (2002) Quantitative GC analysis of secondary alcohol pheromones: Determination of release rate of the red palm weevil,Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, pheromone from lures.J. Chem. Ecol. 28:2299–2306.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Entomology, ARO, The Volcani Center, 50250, Bet Dagan, Israel

    V. Soroker, D. Blumberg, S. Reneh, S. Talebaev, L. Anshelevich & A. R. Harari

  2. Plant Protection & Inspection Services, Israel Ministry of Agriculture, 50250, Bet Dagan, Israel

    A. Haberman & M. Hamburger-Rishard

Authors
  1. V. Soroker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. D. Blumberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. Haberman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. Hamburger-Rishard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. S. Reneh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. S. Talebaev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. L. Anshelevich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. A. R. Harari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. Soroker.

Additional information

http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting Dec. 19, 2004.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Soroker, V., Blumberg, D., Haberman, A. et al. Current status of red palm weevil infestation in date palm plantations in Israel. Phytoparasitica 33, 97–106 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02980931

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02980931

Key words

Search

Navigation